5:18pm:Australian shares had a strong session on Thursday as earnings continued to flow in, with blue-chip favourites Telstra and some of the major banks doing most of the heavy lifting, while a drop in the iron ore price weighed on miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index and the broader All Ordinaries Index each rose 0.6 per cent to 5548.5 points and 5543 points respectively.

Local shares lifted in the morning after taking a stronger lead from offshore markets as Wall Street rose despite lacklustre US retail sales numbers with investors focusing more on the de-escalation of conflicts in Iraq and Ukraine.

Regional markets were also mostly higher on Thursday, led by gains in Japan.

“Despite the ebbs and flows of perceived geopolitical risk, we’re largely in a holding pattern and domestically people are going to sit back and digest what companies are saying,” Tim Schroeders, portfolio manager at Pengana Capital said.

“Companies have reported pretty well on the whole. There’s nothing nasty from a market perspective, with results generally in line to above expectations,” Mr Schroeder said.

“The concern is probably more company valuations. If the last unemployment figure becomes a trend, that will have a big impact on how people position portfolios going forward.”

Telstra shares leapt 2.2 per cent to $5.56 after it reported a full year net profit of $4.3 billion and announced it will return $1 billion to investors through a share buyback and increase its dividend for the second time this year.

Australia’s other major telco, SingTel-owner of Optus - closed flat at $3.35 as it delivered an underlying local net profit to $187 million for the quarter ended June 30.

4:25pm: Investors have cheered a day of mostly positive earnings reports, topped by Telstra's bigger than expected profit and dividend.

The telco closed 2.2 per cent higher, helping the ASX 200 to a 34 point, or 0.6 per cent, gain at 5548.5, while the All Ords added 35 points to close at 5542.8.

While Telstra impressed, it was CSL that was the single biggest contributor to the rally, as the company surged another 4.7 per cent as investors continued to buy in the wake of its profit announcement on Wednesday.

With 140 of the top 200 stocks advancing, losses among miners limited the gains. Rio declined another 1 per cent after trading ex-dividend on Wednesday, while BHP eased 0.2 per cent and Fortescue sagged 1.8 per cent. Mineral Resources slumped 5.9 per cent on its profit announcement.

4:13pm: An increasing number of global investors are switching out of equities and back into cash as fears about geopolitical concerns, rising US interest rates and a sharemarket correction prompt investors to reposition global portfolios.

The amount of money sitting in cash within global portfolios is at its highest level since 2012, according to a fund manager survey by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, with double the number of investors building positions in the defensive asset class in August compared to the month before.

Of 224 respondents – with $US675 billion of assets under management – who were surveyed in the first week of August, 27 per cent of them said they were overweight cash, up from 12 per cent in July. Cash now accounts for an average of 5.1 per cent of global portfolios, up from 4.5 per cent a month ago.

BT Investment Management’s head of income and fixed interest Vimal Gor said he is also seeing “increasing” level of interest from clients who want to raise their cash allocations.

The shift in portfolios comes as many fund managers bet that the market is due for a correction, which is typically defined as being at least a 10 per cent selloff.

This has been largely due to worries about tensions between Russia and the Ukraine, and increasing violence in the Middle East, all of which has weighed on the minds of investors who are concerned about the impact on sentiment, global energy prices and growth.

“The market melt-up is over, or at least on pause, as investors seek refuge while they digest world events and the prospect of higher rates,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Research.

The survey also found that investors have been adjusting their portfolios into emerging markets, commodities and defensives, while out of Europe, equities and financials. Popular trades have been to go long US dollars, short the pound; long bonds, short cash; long growth, and short value.

4:04pm:Property developer Mark Letten has been sentenced to 5 years and 8 months' jail for operating what a judge described as the "Titanic" of unregistered investment schemes, worth $100 million.

Letten, 60, of South Yarra, appeared in the Victorian County Court on Thursday over 27 charges relating to his operation of the 21 schemes over a 10 year period.

Mr Letten managed the schemes through a number of companies including LGH Holdings. He used investors' money to buy development properties across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand.

The schemes were wound up by the regulator in 2010, costing investors $67 million.

Mr Letten pleaded guilty to the charges in January, which included 21 charges of running unregistered schemes, one charge of running a financial services business without a licence and five charges of dishonestly using his position for his own advantage.

In handing down his judgement, Justice Michael McInerney described Mr Letten's property empire as an "economic shamble or shemozzle that was doomed to failure".

"This whole enterprise, which was overseen by Mr Letten, had more severe structural defects than the Titanic," he said.

3:38pm: On the China front there are growing calls for another reserve requirement ratio cut (eg by ANZ) or some sort of measures in the near term, IG's Stan Shamu notes:

However, given the last RRR cut was only in June and very targeted, I don’t think China will be in any hurry to cut again in the near term. The PBoC actually said that its policy views are unchanged and it will remain prudent.

Domestic activity has remained robust with a sharp pick up in exports boosting recent trade balance figures to a record. The real concern will be around property prices and the impact this has on the non-manufacturing sectors.

I suspect if any fresh measures are to be introduced, they’ll most likely be targeted towards the property sector. July property prices are due out on Monday August 18 and these will deserve some attention.

3:23pm:Christmas came early for Telstra shareholders today with a $4.7 billion present in the form of a $1 billion share buy-back and an increased dividend. The trouble is many of the recipients were expecting more.

A $1 billion share buy-back sounds like a big number but Telstra is a massive company capitalised at $70 billion and with free cash flow this year of $7.5 billion. It has raised a lot of cash recently from asset sales and internal cash generation. Shareholder anticipation of getting a big slice of that cash had been growing.

Some shareholders were hoping that the company might have produced a special one-off dividend. They will be disappointed.

Indeed finance director, Andy Penn, said over a year ago, when investors were asking about share buy-backs, that it would not be meaningful for a company the size of Telstra to undertake a small buy-back - enough to distribute excess franking credits.

But in a sense this is what it has now done.

From these actions, one can only conclude that Telstra wants to keep its powder dry and retain plenty in the kitty for future capital investment and for acquisitions.

As with all acquisitions, particularly those made for less-established companies, there will be hits and misses. And Telstra has never ruled out making a very large acquisition.

Hedging its bets makes perfect sense. Telstra is a company in transition from a core telephony business to a global technology company.

3:11pm: The warm start to winter may have weighed on the earnings of energy utilities, but the cold snap over the past six weeks or so, certainly in the southern states, has been a handy fillip.

Earlier, the Hong Kong owned EnergyAustralia said the volume of electricity sold fell a heavy 12.6 per cent in the six months to June with gas sales volumes down 15.9 per cent.

In part, it blamed the warm start to winter, as did Envestra with gas volumes off 5 per cent in the year to June.

But, as Envestra noted, the cold snap since has pushed volumes ‘‘well ahead’’ over the past six weeks, with July’s revenues pushed ahead a handy $3 million as a result, which is all good news for its new owner, Li Ka-shing of China.

2:58pm:Stock in CBA changes hands at pricey 15 times forward earnings, with a market capitalisation of $131.7 billion. Joblessness is at a 12-year high. One of these numbers jars with the others, the FT’s Lex column notes:

Times are not so good for Australian banks any more, given the high unemployment rate and the effects it will have upon credit demand.

When the economy sours even owning a large, yieldy bank is, ultimately, still owning a bank whose earnings depend on credit growth.

More jarring numbers, then. Australian household debt is high: 1.5 times their income, or three times the level before 1990, when Australians last knew what recession feels like, according to JPMorgan.

Wealth backing these debts is also highly exposed to housing – prices are five times income. No recessions in two decades means households never needed to adjust, as their UK or US counterparts did post-crisis.

That does not imply that Australia is bound for a recession, despite the mining geologists now looking for work as baristas or taxi drivers.

Still, the precariousness implies Australian banks will not go on beating the Sydney market. They managed this over the past three years; the ASX 200 banking index returned 94 per cent to the ASX 200’s 54 per cent. Australia’s economic adjustment could catch up with the banks this time.

The Lex column follows a recent piece in the paper also casting doubt on the ‘'Australian model’’, but as the AFR's Tony Boyd points out, following the FT's views on Aussie banks doesn’t necessarily put you on a road to riches:

2:55pm: Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources has missed its full-year profit guidance after taking an $18 million hit on a botched attempt in June to buy a seat at the table during Baosteel’s takeover tilt for Perth iron ore junior Aquila Resources.

The Perth-based mining services and mineral processing firm posted a 28 per cent increase in net profit to $231 million for financial 2014 on the previous year, well short of guidance of $247.8 million to $252.8 million put in April.

Stripping out the loss on MinRes’ purchase of Aquila shares in June, the group achieved an operational profit of $249 million.

A huge increase in the group’s iron ore export volumes to a record 10.4 million tonnes in part offset sharp falls in the spot price for the commodity, with MinRes’ product discount to the 62 per cent benchmark index widening.

Revenue was up 73 per cent to $1.89 billion.

Managing director Chris Ellison, a BRW Rich Lister, saw his salary package jump in the year to $1.9 million from $933, 377 in financial 2013. The increase included performance bonuses and a $125,000 increase in base salary.

MinRes took a loss of $18 million on the daring on-market raid of a 12.78 per cent stake in Aquila in June. The group bought in at $3.75 a share, but a few weeks later vended the shares into a Baosteel takeover offer for Aquila at $3.40 a share cash.

MinRes bought the shares in an attempt to get a seat at the table for the construction of the $7.4 billion West Pilbara iron ore project that Aquila majority owned.

2:38pm:Chinese steel and iron ore futures have fallen to eight-week lows as fresh concerns over China's economy cast doubts on the outlook for demand for the two commodities.

A gauge of money flowing into China's economy fell to the lowest since October 2008, adding to fears that a sustained recovery may be at risk in the second half of the year despite government efforts to shore up growth.

The data, released on yesterday along with fixed-asset investment and retail sales numbers that undershot expectations, countered initial optimism that Beijing's stimulus efforts were working as evidenced by recent firm manufacturing and export data.

China's steel sector is among those to which Beijing has tightened credit in its bid to address industries plagued by overcapacity.

"Tight credit is something that mills will have to start to learn to live with. But it's the pressure on physical steel prices that's pulling the iron ore market down again," said a trader in Shanghai.

Wednesday's data, which showed a steep fall in China's new yuan loans to 385.2 billion yuan ($US62.59 billion) in July from 1.08 trillion yuan in June, "confirmed market suspicion that credit conditions continue to remain difficult, particularly for steel mills," ANZ said in a note.

Iron ore for January delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell as low as 654 yuan a tonne, and the most-traded January rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange touched 3,026 yuan per tonne. Both prices were the lowest for these contracts since June 20.

Iron ore for immediate delivery to China dropped 0.9 per cent to $US93.20 a tonne, its lowest since June 20.

It was the fourth consecutive day of decline for the benchmark spot price and brought its year-to-date loss to just over 30 per cent.

On average men are earning $14,877 more per year than women, with the gap having increased by almost 8 per cent in just the past year. One key reason for the disparity is the strength in demand for labour in male dominated sectors, such as mining and construction.

However, given the pullback in mining investment it is likely that the gap between male and female wages widens at a slower pace.

Wages in the mining sector are now almost 2½ times the earnings in the retail sector as well as food sectors like cafes and restaurants.

1:57pm: There's more soft economic data out of Japan. The country's core machinery orders tumbled in April-June at their fastest since the last global financial crisis and only a modest rebound is seen in the current quarter - further challenging policymakers contending with a fragile economy.

The highly volatile data point, a key indicator of capital spending, followed news on Wednesday that the economy suffered its biggest contraction since 2011 in the second quarter as April's sales tax hike took a heavy toll on private consumption.

With exports and factory production weakening, policymakers had hoped business investment would drive a virtuous cycle of output, income generation and consumption, but today's anaemic numbers cloud the outlook for sustained growth.

Cabinet Office data out today showed core orders fell 10.4 per cent in April-June from the previous quarter, marking the first slide in five quarters and the sharpest drop since January-March 2009 when orders declined 12.3 per cent.

"The data suggests that any recovery in capital spending will be slack. What is lacking in Japan is companies' confidence in a growth outlook rather than inflation expectations," said Kyohei Morita, chief Japan economist at Barclays Capital. "Japan must act quickly to implement its growth strategy, tackling issues such as cuts in the corporate tax rate, labour market reform and promotion of corporate governance."

The Japanese sharemarket is still up 0.5 per cent, helped by a weaker yen which tends to boost stocks of the country's exporters.

"The selloff in overseas shares has calmed and the yen is also weakening a bit," said Mitsushige Akino, executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management. "When you think about the medium-term direction of Japanese and US monetary policy, it isn't unusual for the yen to depreciate."

1:54pm: At Intercheese AG's headquarters in Switzerland, the phone barely stops ringing these days. A Russian voice is usually at the other end.

Since August 7, when Vladimir Putin's government banned many food imports from nations supporting sanctions due to Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis, at least 14 Russian importers have contacted Intercheese. The reason for the surge in business: Switzerland hasn't joined the European Union, the US, Canada, Australia and Norway in penalising Russia.

"Russian importers are looking for the cheeses they can't get from the Europeans anymore - Mozzarella, Gouda and Edam," said Daniel Daetwyler, managing director at Intercheese. The Swiss company sold as much as 20 tons of cheese to Russia in 2013 and will increase sales to the country of the varieties most affected by the EU embargo, even though it won't be able to meet the demand, Daetwyler said.

Cheese is Switzerland's most important agricultural export and the country's neutrality is providing local producers with an edge in selling Gruyere and Emmental to 142.5 million Russians. Swiss producers shipped 431 tons of cheese to Russia last year, according to the Swiss Customs Administration, just a fraction of the almost 63,000 tons exported globally.

"If the embargo remains, it's possible we'll export more cheese to Russia," said Jacques Bourgeois, director of the Swiss Farmer's Union, adding that Gruyere is among the Swiss cheeses with most potential as exports have increased in recent years.

"But Switzerland is a small country, we can't just double production from one day to another. If there's more demand, of course we'll have to see that we can deliver. We'll be pleased about every additional kilo we can export."

1:36pm:NASDAQ-listed payday lender EZCorp has confirmed Bank of Queensland CEO Stuart Grimshaw will become its executive chairman in an Australian-led takeover of the company.

An adviser to the company, fellow Australian Lachlan Given, was appointed non-executive chairman last month. But he will now become executive vice chairman in a coup led by EZCorp’s controlling shareholder, MS Pawn Ltd.

In a shock move, Bank of Queensland announced he would be leaving on August 31 to take up the new role in Austin, Texas. After a 2 per cent fall on Wednesday, the bank’s share price initially continued to fall today, shedding nearly 3 per cent before clawing back losses to trade flat just below $12.

Amid allegations money was being siphoned out of EZCorp, CEO and president Paul Rothamel, chairman William Love and another board member, Joseph Beal, were ousted last month by Australian-born private equity investor Phillip Ean Cohen.

Chinese stocks closed higher on Wednesday on speculation the government will take steps to support its 7.5 per cent expansion target, after initially falling when the People’s Bank of China reported the lowest level for its broad financing measure since 2008. Shares are down 0.3 per cent in early trade.

Barclays is forecasting two second-half interest-rate cuts, while ANZ says a reduction in banks’ reserve requirements is imminent.

“It is important for both monetary and fiscal policy easing to continue in the coming months,” says Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia.

Tools include programs such as pledged supplementary lending that can direct credit to the economy, cuts in reserve requirements or interest rates, and fiscal spending on railways and affordable housing, Shen says.

A property slump and dangers from rising bad loans are making it tougher for Premier Li Keqiang to sustain the fastest growth in the Group of 20 nations. Any stimulus would build on measures this year to expedite railway spending, free up money for loans for small businesses and channel funds toward building low-income housing.

“The top concern right now is to make sure the economy can be reasonably smooth in its growth, rather than controlling the risks,” says Li Daokui, a former PBOC academic adviser who’s a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

12:53pm: The latest in a swag of listed investment companies to hit the local boards this year has started trading on a positive note. After listing at 11am AEST, Barrack Street Investments is currently 5 per cent higher at $1.05.

Trading under the ticker BST, is a new listed investment company (LIC) managed by boutique Australian equities manager ECP Asset Management.

Heading up and overseeing investment decisions for the group is Manny Pohl. He was one of the co-founders of Hyperion Asset Management, but sold out a couple of years back.

During his time at Hyperion, Pohl built a reputation for being an early buyer of small technology stocks that grew into larger ones – such as Seek. His focus is still on small and mid-cap companies.

"Telstra’s FY14 results came in ahead of consensus expectations," it told clients in a note, "with the fixed-line business providing the beat versus Citi expectations, with mobile, enterprise/NAS and media divisions broadly in line":

We note the outlook statement is encouraging, highlighting underlying earnings growth albeit ‘flat’ yoy considering the shift in business mix.

That said, mobile growth is slowing and ARPUs (average revenue per unit) are still declining, and NBN cash payments are providing a welcome buffer to earnings. We retain our 'neutral' rating.

Citi has a target price of $5.30, a little south of where it is trading currently.

12:07pm:South Korea's central bank has cut the policy interest rate for the first time in 15 months, a move widely seen as capitulating to government pressure to shore up faltering growth.

The rate cut comes after new Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan last month launched a series of stimulus measures to spark activity, and placed overt pressure on the central bank to ease policy.

The Bank of Korea's monetary policy committee cut its base rate by 25 basis points to 2.25 per cent, a media official said without elaborating. The move by the central bank marked an about-turn in its hawkish policy, and has raised questions about its independence.

Governor Lee Ju-yeol is due to hold a news conference soon.

"This is largely seen as the Bank of Korea jumping on the government wagon to lift growth," said Park Chong-hoon, economist at Standard Chartered Bank Korea.

It was the first rate cut since May last year, which was also seen as cooperating with the government under a different governor. The cut the brought base rate, which applies to the central bank's seven-day repurchase agreements, to its lowest since early November 2010.

The won firmed slightly against the dollar while the three-year treasury bond futures dipped marginally after the decision, but most traders were on the sidelines awaiting the news conference.

11:55am:Cabcharge quarterly net profit at part-owned associate company ComfortDelGro Cabcharge fell 13 per cent to $8.7 million for the three months ended June 30 from $10 million in the year-earlier period.

Revenue at the bus operator, which is 49 per cent owned by Cabcharge, also decreased, falling 11 per cent to $85.6 million. The decrease reflected “the loss of the NSW metropolitan bus service contracts in October 2013”.

Cabcharge also announced a net profit after tax of £818,000 ($1.5 million) for its British taxi service CityFleet Networks business. This was 6.8 per cent increase in like currency terms, but a 22.8 per cent increased in Australian dollar terms, compared to the June 2013 quarter, due to currency fluctuations

According to the company, lower corporate and taxi card bookings constrained the earnings.

11:47am:Optus, the biggest competitor to Australia’s dominant telecommunications provider Telstra, has reported falling revenue and profit for the June quarter.

The disappointing result was driven by a drop in mobile subscribers, a fall in equipment sales, and a reduction in its ability to charge consumers for terminating contracts.

Optus, the local operation of dual-listed Singapore Telecommunications, showed a 1.8 per cent drop in net profit to $164 million for the June quarter, compared to $167 million for the same period last year, as year-on-year operating revenue declined 2.8 per cent.

Investors had been hoping for evidence a recently revamped advertising and marketing campaign was helping the telco win customers, but Optus lost 126,000 mobile subscribers in the past 12 months. It now has 9.4 million subscribers.

Prepaid mobile subscriptions edged up just 0.1 per cent while postpaid subscribers fell 2.4 per cent. Total mobile subscriptions declined 1.3 per cent.

More comprehensive mobile coverage is a key factor in Telstra’s market dominance.

Optus highlighted its investment in new 4G mobile networks and spectrum upgrades in Darwin and Perth during the quarter.

“We’re upgrading our entire mobile network in preparation for access to 700MHz spectrum in January 2015, putting us well on track to offer 4G national coverage that reaches 90 per cent of the population by the end of March 2015. This spectrum will be used to bring 4G coverage to regional locations and improve indoor 4G experience for more customers,” chief executive Paul O’Sullivan said.

The 4G customer base continues to grow steadily, with a further 1.3 million mobile customers joining the network over the past 12 months, Mr O’Sullivan said.

11:36am:Wages rises have been so low over the past year that most workers have gone backwards.

The latest wage price index from the Bureau of Statistics shows an average increase of 2.6 per cent in the year to June, well below the inflation rate of 3 per cent.

The increase is the lowest since records began in 1997.

Until recently the mining industry was Australia's wage pacesetter offering increases of 6 per cent or more per year. This year it offered just 2.5 per cent, even less than manufacturing, which offered 2.7 per cent.

The most generous industries were education (3.2 per cent), arts and recreation (3 per cent) electricity, gas and water (3 per cent), health care and social assistance (3 per cent), construction (2.9 per cent) and public administration safety (2.8 per cent).

The least generous were tourism (2.1 per cent) and wholesale trade (2 per cent).

Bank of Melbourne economist Jo Horton said the low wage growth was the result of low employment growth. Over the past year the number of Australians in jobs has climbed just 0.8 per cent while the adult population has climbed 1.8 per cent.

''The rise in the unemployment rate suggests wage growth is likely to remain subdued for some time,'' he said. ''An increase in wage growth would likely require a sustained fall in the unemployment rate.''

Selling the budget in Brisbane ahead of the release of the wage figures Treasurer Joe Hockey attempted to turn low wage growth to his advantage, saying a budget proposal to lift pensions in line with the consumer price index rather than wages would actually advantage pensioners in the present environment.

11:25am:Suncorp may be a slick cash-generating machine, but UBS analysts reckon it’s time for investors to sell out of the stock.

In the wake of Suncorp’s $730 million profit and higher than expected special dividend, UBS analysts cut their stock recommendation to “sell” from “neutral” and said Suncorp was unlikely to repeat the performance in the 2015 financial year.

UBS presented clients with a list of five reasons for the downgrade:

(1) the pricing response in Personal Lines has been left too late and a painful transition now lies ahead for the majors to restore growth;

(2) it’s unlikely both FY15E ROE and top-line targets can be achieved;

(3) the capital story has largely run its course – UBSe FY15E DPS of 100¢ priced in;

(4) minimal Cash NPAT growth over three years (FY17e CAGR 2 per cent); and

(5) SUN is fully valued, with FY15E PE and P/B now in line with other stretched financials.

Credit Suisse analysts said Suncorp’s better than expected result was driven by mark-to-market gains and it was time for the company’s bank and life insurance units to start firing.

Credit Suisse said profit from Suncorp’s general insurance business had to plateau and may even decline.

11:07am: ANZ sees a brighter outlook for non-mining investment, an important prerequisite for the economy’s transition away from mining-led growth.

"Supportive longer term structural drivers and an improvement in near-term indicators suggest that non-mining business investment is turning around," the bank’s economists write in a note this morning:

Longer term drivers of investment are particularly supportive. Non-mining capital stock has declined to its lowest level on record relative to GDP, suggesting that non-mining investment will have to strengthen going forward if this decline is to be halted.

More importantly, business surveys show confidence is lifting and capital expenditure intentions are improving. Business confidence and conditions have been picking up since late last year, mirroring the cyclical upturn in business conditions in the US.

The Australian and US investment cycles are highly correlated, and the pickup in investment intentions in the US bodes well for the path of investment spending in Australia.

A pick-up in US investment intentions bodes well for local capital expenditure. Source: ANZ.

11:01am:Rio Tinto's ambitious multibillion-dollar copper project in Mongolia, Oyu Tolgoi, is starting to hit its straps operationally, but its future remains clouded by a growing number of disputes with the Mongolian government.

Rio and the Mongolian government have traditionally sparred over the size of the developing nation's stake in the giant copper and gold mine, but the two parties are also yet to agree on an outstanding $127 million tax bill, how to finance a proposed expansion of the mine, how to build it and certain mine permits.

The disputes are holding back development of the $6 billion second-stage underground project at Oyu Tolgoi, which contains a much bigger prize than the existing open pit.

The Rio subsidiary developing Oyu Tolgoi, Turquoise Hill Resources, indicated on Wednesday that the tax dispute was the "key" issue yet to be resolved.

''Everyone recognises the value of this amazing resource and reserve, and we are doing everything we can to move forward with the discussions,'' said Turquoise chief executive Kay Priestly.

Funding commitments from 15 global banks to provide support to the underground project expire in seven weeks, and that deadline was itself an extension of six months.

The protracted dispute has some fearing the worst, with Ms Priestly asked by some Canadian investors on Wednesday about the risk of the underground never being developed, or the asset being nationalised.

Ms Priestly responded by saying: "I can't speak on behalf of the government".

10:47am: The June 30 profit season runs until the end of this month, but important themes have already emerged.

The first is that boards are still acutely aware that their shareholders are hungry for yield. Leading companies such as Rio Tinto, Suncorp, CBA, Oz Minerals, and CSL are raising their payouts, and signalling that the process will continue.

Suncorp’s increased payouts are in part a harvest from the successful overhaul of the group by managing director, Patrick Snowball, who took over in December 2010.

Suncorp is also paying big dividends because it knows that its shareholders want them, however.

Companies and shareholders tend to see dividends differently at different times. When the markets are hot and revenue is falling out of the sky, boards often want to hold cash back for acquisitions or investment, and shareholders are often happy for them to do so.

The mood since the global crisis has been meaner, however. Shareholders want to maximise their investment yield. They want dividends and buybacks, and companies are trying to deliver.

At some point if this bull market continues to develop, that will change. Companies will try to retain a bigger piece of the earnings pie to fund expansion, and shareholders will let them do it.

10:22am: Telstra's results are getting a cautious thumbs up from analysts.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch told clients the result was messy thanks to a number of asset sales, but the market would like the buyback and guidance of low single digit growth in sales and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

The broker said it appeared Telstra was not banking on significant momentum from the National Broadband Network in the 2015 financial year.

UBS’s trading desks agreed it was a messy result, but said 2014 financial year net profit of $4.3 billion was above UBS expectations due to a lower effective tax rate.

UBS said the 29.5¢ ordinary dividend was also slightly above consensus of 29¢.

“FY15 guidance broadly in line with UBSe but slightly below consensus,” the broker said in a flashnote to clients.

10:02am: Casino operator Crown Resorts said its full-year net profit after tax rose 66 per cent to $655.8 million, which was buoyed by growth in the company’s Macau joint venture, while the domestic casinos in Melbourne and Perth battled against weak consumer sentiment.

On a normalised basis, which removes fluctuations in activity of high roller gamblers, net profit rose 35.2 per cent to $640.0 million. The result was up from normalised net profit of $473.2 million on the same period last year, and ahead of expectations of $618.6 million.

Revenue in the 12 months ended June 30 hit $3.09 billion, up from $2.89 billion on the prior year. On a normalised basis revenue rose 1.6 per cent to $2.95 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $2.85 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company’s Australian casinos were buffeted by weak consumer sentiment, with main floor gaming revenue rising just 1.4 per cent to $1.5 billion. Non-gaming revenue, which includes restaurants, retail and entertainment, rose 4.5 per cent to $634.8 million.

The amount bet by high rollers, known as VIP program play turnover, fell 1.5 per cent to $49.9 billion.

Chief executive Rowen Craigie described the result as “satisfactory”. He said Macau performed strongly and flagged an improvement in Australia in the second half.

Crown acquired three Bombardier jets at a cost of about US$100 million (including refurbishment costs) to replace its existing fleet of Gulfstream jets. Crown said the purchases will allow it to expand the range of its private jet service to Asian VIP customers and provide “a superior level of comfort and amenity”.

9:47am:Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev has hosed down warnings that Australia's housing market is a systemic risk to the economy, and predicted banks would continue to aggressively target the $1.3 trillion mortgage market.

After delivering a record-breaking $8.68 billion full-year profit, Mr Narev on Wednesday played down a key claim of the government's financial system inquiry – that banks may be too mortgage-heavy.

An interim report from the inquiry, chaired by former CBA boss David Murray, last month said housing was a "systemic risk" after a rapid increase in household indebtedness since the mid 1990s.

Mr Narev, who leads a bank for which mortgages make up 54 per cent of assets, argued this missed the point.

He also predicted the fight between banks to win more mortgage customers was set to intensify because of the big profits on offer in home lending.

Focusing solely on housing lending as a source of risk did not make sense because in previous recessions business lending had been the first source of bad loans, he argued. Housing defaults tended to come later when unemployment rose.

"History will tell you that if you look back at the early 1990s, the first thing that goes is institutional credit quality, that takes a bath, and then small and medium enterprise credit takes a bath, and then after that housing takes a bath," he said.

“The question I think we’ve all got to think about ... is a lot less, is it home lending versus business lending? It’s really about the overall level of macroeconomic risk in Australia generally."

9:30am:STW Communications Group has reported half-year net profit growth of 1.2 per cent to $19 million, as the marketing and communications company fights to win business in a tough advertising market.

STW’s revenue grew by 9.3 per cent to $190.3 million for the six months ended June 30. EBITDA was up 3.1 per cent to $39.3 million.

The company owns more than 80 advertising and communications entities and is battling a soft ad market hit by rising unemployment and uncertainty about the federal budget.

“We are fighting harder than ever for gains in an environment of declining consumer confidence, and a slump in advertiser spending levels. Despite these macro factors, the good news is those gains are starting to come.”

9:27am: Charter and fly-in/fly-out operator Alliance Aviation Services has reported a 58 per cent fall in full-year profit to $10.26 million, in line with its latest guidance to the market.

The airline’s revenue fell 10 per cent to $200 million because of a reduction in wet lease and ad hoc charter flying.

The airline last week downgraded its earnings forecast to $10.2 million to $10.4 million from a prior $10.9 million to $11.1 million because of an accounting adjustment relating to the purchase and sale of additional aircraft.

Alliance said its results had been hit because of its decision to maintain a higher level of overhead and capacity while it focused on securing long-term contracts, such as its largest ever contract signed with BHP Billiton’s iron ore division.

Alliance said over 90 per cent of its revenue was now from long-term contracted FIFO work with resources companies.

The airline has declared a fully franked final dividend of 2.1¢ per share, with the directors remaining positive about the outlook for the company.

“With recent contract wins and announcements, Alliance remains confident about the 2015 financial year and beyond,” the company said.

Alliance expects to deliver a result in the the financial year ending June 2015 that is more in line with the $23 million that it reported in financial 2013.

9:24am: Industrial property giant Goodman Group has delivered a full year operating profit of $601 million, up 10 per cent on last year and in line with guidance given before the end of the financial year but below consensus forecasts.

Earnings per security rose 7 per cent. The group has again forecast a 6 per cent rise in earnings per security for 2015.

9:21am:US stocks rose, pushing the S&P 500 Index to a two-week high, as a slowdown in retail sales boosted speculation the Federal Reserve won’t be forced to raise rates sooner than anticipated.

The S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent to 1,946.7, the highest since July 30. The Dow Jones climbed 91.3 points, or 0.6 percent, to 16,651.8, also the highest in two weeks.

“There is some feeling that events overseas are beginning to cool down a little bit but also the retail numbers might suggest that the Fed is not going to be so aggressive in raising rates any time soon,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based RW Baird & Co, said. “That has been the backbone of the market for the past five years.”

Retail sales were little changed in July, the worst performance in six months, as car demand slowed and tepid wage growth restrained US consumers. The slowdown in purchases followed a 0.2 per cent advance in June, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington.

In Iraq, Kurdish forces fought to retake positions overrun last week by Islamic State fighters in the northern part of the country, while a political standoff between President Fouad Masoum and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki continued.

Ukrainian officials said today they’d refuse entry to a truck convoy that Russia says is loaded with humanitarian assistance for rebel-held eastern areas, while pledging to send their own aid to the embattled region.

“The many geopolitical issues are a little quieter or on the back burner at the moment,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co, said. “It’s given investors an opportunity to take a look and see if they want to add to positions, and it looks like that’s what they’re doing today.”

9:13am:Fairfax Media, publisher of this website, swung to a full-yet net profit of $224.4 million from the year-earlier loss of $16.4 million.

The return to profit was boosted by the sale of holiday website Stayz, but was hindered by more than $33 million in impairments.

Revenue fell 3 per cent to $1.97 billion, the company said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. The media group said it will pay a fully franked 2¢ dividend on September 9.

Revenue from trading in the first five weeks of financial year 2015 is down about 1 to 2 per cent, the company said in an update.

“We finished the 2014 financial year with a strong balance sheet which positions us well to build our current businesses and invest for the future,” chief executive Greg Hywood said.

“Following receipt of proceeds from the sale of Stayz, we finished the year with net cash of $68 million, an improvement from net debt of $154 million at June 2013.”

Stayz was sold in December for about $220 million and InvestSmart was sold in August 2013 for $7 million, the company said.

A “highlight of the full-year” results was the improved profitability in Metropolitan Media, which includes The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age, Hywood said. EBITDA rose 41.3 per cent on the year earlier to $120.9 million, boosted by revenue from digital subscriptions and “an ongoing focus on cost”, he said.

9:09am:Telstra will return $1 billion to investors through a share buyback as well as increasing its dividend for the second time this year following more than eight years without a rise.

The announcement was made as Telstra reported a 14.3 per cent increase in full-year after tax profit to $4.28 billion. Revenue increased 3.5 per cent to $25.3 billion.

After announcing the first dividend increase under the reign of chief executive David Thodey at the company's half-year results, Telstra increased its final dividend to 15 cents, taking total fully franked dividend payments to 29.5 cents for the 2014 financial year.

The share buyback will be funded from the cash generated from the sales of 70 per cent of directories business Sensis, Telstra’s 74.6 per cent interest in Hong Kong mobile provider CSL, as well as the company’s improving bottom line.

"Telstra's level of free cashflow exceeds what we need in the short to medium term so the return of surplus capital to shareholders is considered appropriate in the current environment," Mr Thodey said.

Telstra added 937,000 mobile subscribers over the year, most in the first half, as customers have continued to move over from Optus and Vodafone. Telstra now has 16 million mobile subscribers. Mobile revenue increased 5.1 per cent to $9.7 billion.

Telstra said it expected low single digit income and earnings growth in the 2015 financial year to offset the loss of revenue from the sale of CSL. The company expects free cashflow of between $4.6 billion and $5.1 billion in 2015. Capital expenditure is expected to be around 14 per cent of sales.

9:01am: A positive overseas lead has set the stage for local shares to rally at the open. Investors may be further buoyed by Telstra's announcement in its annual results of a bigger than expected dividend and a share buyback, while Dexus, Goodman Group, Crown and Fairfax Media also report.

XRO less than half it's giddy $40 price of a few weeks ago. Expect the same from LNG. You've been warned.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:28PM

@3:11pm article highlights that more of our energy companies are owned o/seas. Those sky-high gas and electricity bills that we are paying are lining foreigners' pockets. I wonder how much tax is being exported o/seas from those sky-high prices. Once you have an o/seas parent exporting tax liability to a low tax jurisdiction is easy.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:20PM

Any ideas on IDC _ capital raising happening so trading halt until Monday.

"Stock in CBA changes hands at pricey 15 times forward earnings, with a market capitalisation of $131.7 billion. Joblessness is at a 12-year high. One of these numbers jars with the others, the FT’s Lex column notes"

Ahh... yep, mums and dads conned again.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:55PM

"Germany has broken another record by generating 28% of the nation’s electricity from renewable sources in the first half of this year"

See it can be done.

And they're not stopping there. Target is for 80% renewables by 2050.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:53PM

all very well. however you are looking at Germany in isolation. Same thing people do when quoting Spain's renewable %.

Failing to realize that with Spain, it can import electricity from Norway (hydro) when the wind is not blowing and when there is too much wind then they export to Norway.

Germany, France and other euro countries are connected. So germany can to an extent rely on France to bolster supply. Australia is isolated - we have no one to buy electricity off when the wind is not blowing so we need to have far more % of traditional base load to cater for this.

Commenter

Foxxster

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:16PM

Not 28% of the nations used electricity - 28% of what the nation has generated. Renewable is only 3% of all energy used in Germany. They buy buckets of energy from Russia [gas] and France [nuclear].

Commenter

ALittleToTheRight

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:27PM

"Renewable is only 3% of all energy used in Germany."

Source?

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:49PM

"In the first quarter of 2014, 27% of Germany’s electricity demand was powered by renewables, causing the net income of RWE, the country’s second biggest utility, to fall by more than a third."

"Studies and demonstration projects have shown that by stitching together a diverse portfolio of renewables, and filling in the gaps with a modest amount of natural gas or coal that can be fired up when needed, grids that rely primarily on renewables can actually provide a level of reliability equal to that of traditional fossil-fuel-dependent grids."

And Germany has proved it with a miniscule 15.9 mins lost per customer in 2012.

Bye bye king coal you dirty old soul.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:51PM

But Allan, that would mean building more "hideous" wind farms. Joe Hockey will choke on his cigar while driving his car.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:22PM

Time to wake up and publish comments. Why not get into the habit of publishing every 10 minutes.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:49PM

MTU up Go Son!

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:43PM

Short TLS, $5.56.

12c/min or you're paying too much.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:42PM

And Telstra charges $180 for 12Gb mobile broadband.

And scores $11 billion for turning off its copper wire for the NBN.

Or compensation if it doesn't go ahead.

Commenter

Tristan

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:44PM

"Apartment oversupply to flood Perth property market"

Housing boom!

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:41PM

CSL what a day huh,nearly outshone TLS for a belated rally....if only @ 64ish.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:33PM

Re 2.58pm article. Unemployment at 6.4% may seem high,but I think it is a statistical abberation.109,000 MORE people have full time jobs now than at the start of the year.Despite the supposedly contractionary budget!

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:19PM

Yes, just bad luck 4 times that number have joined the workforce. 1 job for every 7 unemployed. No wonder the gov't wants to make it so hard & demeaning to get the dole. Did you look up to see what pensioner concessions have been cut.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:04PM

Cutting concessions is not cutting pensions,it is cutting concessions.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:25PM

Some of those concessions were actually included with the pension payment. Try explaining to your dear old Mum why the pension payment in her bank book this fortnight was less than last when that horrid Mr Abbott said that wouldn't happen.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:32PM

State governments are maintaining the concessions to pensioners

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:48PM

"109,000 MORE people have full time jobs now than at the start of the year."

Loki,

Well since the Liberals' skilled immigration scheme and international education is widely rorted, that doesn't mean 109,000 Australians have left the unemployment queue.

There are over 700,000 Australians registered for Centrelink, plus hundreds of thousands of discouraged jobseekers and underemployed people, plus single parents, the disabled and their carers who will be joining the unemployment queue.

And all we've been hearing from Unemployment Minister Eric Abetz is to compete against backpackers for fruit picking work (Grapes of Wrath anyone?)

The least Eric Abetz could do is advertise the single vacancy currently available in his electorate office in Hobart, and all the jobs at the Tasmanian Cadbury chocolate factory, which Abbott gifted with $16 million in taxpayer funded grants.

Commenter

Tristan

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:51PM

My dear old Mum has nothing to worry about,no matter how much that nasty old Bill tries to scare her.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:52PM

Yes but with out net migration running at somewhere around 250 to 300k a year then you would need around 160,000 jobs just for them... oops.

Commenter

Foxxster

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:58PM

If you want to buy a strong company in telecomms buy Ericsson and sell Telstra.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:19PM

I have Crown seller's remorse! :(

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:19PM

CWN up 1.74% already :) lets go Packer! Up the outside!

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:18PM

Well done Cyril for buying SXY @ 0.635. Good entry point. Tossed up those and BPT, Hope my BPT keep going upski!Keep up the good work C.

Commenter

Ox

Location

Kensi Pk

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:12PM

Yep! Agreed Ox, I took note of that trade too because I thought it was a winner, but I think it was Clive who posted it.

Commenter

Forry

Location

Ipswich

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:41PM

Cheers Ox, good luck with BPT too!

Commenter

cyril

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:41PM

Thanks all. Some good information. Think I got confused - its capital losses that can only be counted against capital gains. Good to know that borrowing (a manageable amount) to buy blue stock shares is still a good strategy.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:59PM

Rent money is as dead as interest on the mortgage. Yet both provide a roof over ones head. The task is to pay off a mortgage as fast as possible or at least get on top of it early. Next door was a rental. Nothing but bad complaints to the owner

Commenter

Wally

Location

Flynn

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:55PM

When you are paying rent you are getting both a roof over your head AND paying off a mortgage. The trouble is that mortgage is someone else's. I would much rather be paying off my own and not subject to the whims of a landlord.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:11PM

We all have to make a decision- do we pay interest on a loan over 30 years to a bank (and get cap growth above 30 yr inflation rate) and own said property or do we pay rent and invest surplus monies into other asset classes. Both ways can give the outcome of having a roof over your head. A small increase in interest rates will stop house prices in their tracks for all but those highly desirable properties. For most Aussie families the money that comes in goes out just as quickly.

Commenter

Ox

Location

Kensi Pk

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:20PM

I can't believe people are still squabbling over if property is a bad investment or not, its like comparing CBA and QBE over the last year, you can't! Property can more than double over 7 years in some areas, it can also halve (Gold Coast). Therefor if you are a savvy investor you can make money in property case closed. Now please, go away!

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:29PM

Mortgage comes with an appreciating asset whose equity value you can leverage in the future. Rent does not.

Commenter

Sceptical Prophet

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:57PM

Renting is cheaper and has been few the last 8 years or so.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:23PM

Back to the "new norm", world share markets rallying on bad economic news from China, Japan, Europe and the US.

Commenter

MTD

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:31PM

1.54pm article:Yes, the Swiss have made obscene amounts of money over the centuries by staying neutral when their neighbours do the hard and dirty work in stopping some crazy regime. Is it not incredible how this cheese salesman only talks about the potential benefits of selling the Russians more cheese, an opportunity driven by the sanctions of other European countries? It appears if they don't even notice that they are stepping into an issue which is morally and ethically messy. They are just thinking % of increased exports....R.

Commenter

Roadsta

Location

Brisneyland

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:22PM

Maybe the Swiss are run by gnomes.

Commenter

Wally

Location

Flynn

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:57PM

As Orson Welles said " 500 years of development and what have they come up with ? The cuckoo clock!"

Commenter

Harry Rogers

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:00PM

Cheese with holes was a portend of future capitalism.

Commenter

Wally

Location

Flynn

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:06PM

Now that the Carbon Tax is gone,hopefully we will get some warmer weather soon.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:08PM

Warmer weather? Not a snowball's chance in hell. According to this great mind advising the PM, the weather is just going to get colder and colderhttp://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/climate-change-measures-like-primitive-civilisations-offering-up-sacrifices-to-appease-the-gods-says-maurice-newman-20140814-3do0v.htmlIt would be funny if it weren't so sad, and dangerous.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:58PM

What is worse Mitch, is that that the tax payer is paying for this clown. Is the PM going to send him to the Paris global climate change meeting next year?

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:16PM

Carbon has no impact on global temperatures what so ever, only in the very very long run is there a theoretical impact, but this would be trumped by other factors.

You just dress properly and enjoy the coldest August since records begun!

Commenter

Dr No

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:34PM

No,not sad or dangerous...according to a growing number of researchers as reported on reportingclimatescience.com it is becoming apparent that the primary cause of global warming has been high solar output,and CO2 is not that important afterall.Thank goodness the useless Carbon Tax is gone.

Mitch,,,ha ha ha irrelevant distraction,,,,avoid the new information like the left leaning media who have failed to report on these findings.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:38PM

Automotive Holdings (AHE) reporting tomorrow. Kind of in the middle of their trading range, hoping it tanks tomorrow too!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:03PM

Summary

The US budget Deficit grew another $95 billion in July 2014.So far, the US borrowed 15.7¢ of every dollar it spent in Fiscal 2014.Total US Debt now stands at a record $17.7 trillion or 102% of GDP!ECRI’s USFIG (US Future Inflation Gauge) now at a 71-month high.

from seeking alpha.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:53PM

Wars & humanitarian missions don't come cheap. If the US didn't step in, as it has just done in Iraq with aid & airstrikes, who else would.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:24PM

As expensive as the US debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan have been, they're still not the biggest tickets in the budget. The useless "stimulus" that they carried out in 2009 wasted more money than both those crazy wars put together. So, war or no war, they're still screwed.

As for who else would do it? Well al-Assad and the Syrian Army were quite successful in fighting these Jihadis despite the US financing and even training (!) ISIS in Syria. Saddam would have had those Jihadis crying uncle all over the shop...

Commenter

Dr No

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:18PM

So South Korea is getting an interest rate cut, there's talk of more stimulus for China to arrest falling growth. It must be our turn next, surely. The RBA is going to have to act soon to stimulate the economy to try and make up for the Hockeynomics drag on GDP and employment. The trouble is that the 1st & 2nd round of interest rate cuts don't work because borrowers use the lower rates to reduce debt faster rather than spend. And with jobs dropping like flies who would want to go into debt.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:47PM

MNW what am i seeing..a sellout but why? me no comprende.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:46PM

I took a simultaneous hit on MNW & NWT, both "NW" stocks. NWT fell heavily due to a very critical broker report and is now crawling its way back. MNW reported a loss, as expected for a company in its development phase, and fell heavily and has stayed down. Hopefully will also claw back. Both companies appear to have good prospects.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:03PM

Speaking of taking hits, here is another Mining Coy that turned out a dog - WDR

Commenter

Red Rooster

Location

Crying Room

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:52PM

Its strange how the bullish market eliminates certain characters right up until the end of the day. Then....

Housing Boom!

Commenter

;)

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:41PM

That's because their employer has told them to "post in your own time".

Commenter

Boom Boom

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:51PM

maccas day release?

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:50PM

SGNA bit oversold in my opinion it is paying a 6.4% dividend at current levels of $1.34.

Commenter

It's All About Making Money

Location

Lennox Hd

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:22PM

I got back in today, both in regular acc & SMSF.... great price for both long & short term holders.

I've been wondering all morning about what they were expecting from the results? It was hovering around these levels before that nifty acquisition a couple of months ago pushed them up to the $1.50 mark.

Either way, at least now we can get both capital growth and a good div.

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:41PM

Think they are oversold as well. May rebound tomorrow and worth a punt.

I have been trying to buy for $1.325 but might have missed the boat.

Been burnt before buying a stock for the dividend, never again for that reason.

Commenter

clive

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:46PM

I can't believe my luck,I sold them yesterday because they seemed to be going nowhere,put the money into DTL,which seems to be in an up trend.Time will tell.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:46PM

$1.35+- is too much for a share paying 3.3c even if f/f. I sold when they were $1.495 because I knew that the next div was the lesser of the 2 with the next div @ 5.3c. It pays to maintain a table of upcoming dividends so that you can select the best yielders. Many companies pay different levels of dividends depending on whether full or half-year, eg DJW 16/10. Best to only buy for the larger dividend.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:18PM

My green rockets are still hurting from last week

Commenter

Mike

Location

Melb

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:16PM

Fred, can't be your real name, can't it?

Commenter

Daxman

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:14PM

Fred, can't be your real name, can't it?

Commenter

Daxman

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:14PM

Does anybody know a good website to find out all the up coming announcements?

House value rises at the rate of inflation,3% a year, and rent rises 2.6 in line with wage growth.....In fifteen years, I'll owe about $320k, rent will have risen to $27k, property value is about $480k....

I'm sure there's plenty of holes in it but to me it still looks like a good investment as long as the rent return is better than interest rates.....Love to hear opinions because if the numbers make sense I'm buying another....

But one of the best things about buying vs renting is you can refinance your mortgage to take out more equity for further investments. It gives you more purchasing power to accelerate your wealth accumulation.

Commenter

Sceptical Prophet

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:32PM

Whoever it is, stop using JohnB's moniker. There's NO WAY he would say anything THAT positive!!

As to the example, the rent yield is 6% whch seems a bit high to maintain longterm (a 10 year old tower may not be as attractive to renters as a brand new one!).

Commenter

Life Is Good

Location

The Real World

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:38PM

In the long run house prices can only rise. A massive Prahran style crash may interupt the onward march. A house in 1928 was perhaps 100 pounds. in 1986 it was $150k. Now $600k. An important ingredient is the need for inflation and lots of it.Meanwhile a renter can only look forward to constant inspections, the need for permission for anything and the loss of hundreds of thousands in dead money.

Commenter

Wally

Location

Flynn

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:21PM

Interest rates are not going to be this low for 15 years

Commenter

James

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:22PM

@james - that's what people said 15 years ago.

Commenter

got brain

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:36PM

@wally cant consider it "dead" money as there is a good involved = shelter which does come at a cost,so the reference is incorrect and tilted bias property investor jargon.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:44PM

@Life Is Good...hahah. I just call things as I see them..If the numbers work, I'm positive...Big regional towns seem okay...I still think Sydney is ridiculously expensive and won't keep rising with inflation (then again weirder stuff happens, especially if foreign buying keeps up). I think as population continues to increase (ridiculously) they'll be bigger incentives for business to relocate and state gov's will too....I've had a good look at coastal regional towns and the property prices are comparable globally...The big downside I can see is falling wages for Australia to be competitive....Already, they haven't fallen this much with respect to inflation from memory for 22 years. If inflation accelerates and wages don't keep up, it could mean disaster for property everywhere. Who knows? I'm just trying to hedge my investments the best I can for all likely outcomes.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:50PM

SLX up another 14% on no news.

Commenter

Rabbit

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:16PM

Quite common to see some recovery from stocks that have been hammered like SLX has. The recent amusingly timed media push - "best ASX speculative stock" - may be getting some belated traction. DIfficult to predict if the SP increases will be sustained.

Commenter

Yin or yang

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:45PM

out at 91.5 today. Bought at 0.555. Makes up for some of the other dogs on my portfolio

Commenter

doglover

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:14PM

It is bit risky and not possible to predict if it can sustain this SP. Looking at market depth, it seems that bots are in action

Commenter

xyz

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:52PM

Have to laugh about wages growing slower than the CPI. The decision by the gov't to index pensions to the CPI instead of wages growth, to save money, shows that they couldn't even get that savings measure right. Great for pensioners though.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:13PM

Pegging pensions to CPI rather than wage inflation levels makes sense. Wages are driven by supply and demand for labor, while pensions are affected by general price rises, not the ups and downs of the jobmarket.

Commenter

Dr No

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:57PM

So,please tell Bill to stop scaring our pensioners, telling them lies about their pensions being cut when in fact they are going to increase.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:14PM

@Loki a whole range of concessions that were built into the pensions have already been cut. So pensions are falling already. Bill is right and Tony is glossing over the hard facts.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:35PM

What concessions?

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:43PM

@Loki, there's this wonderful tool called Google that will give you all of the details if you search "pensioner concession cuts", page after page after page. But I don't think you want to know because that would put your heroes in a bad light. Pretty mean and nasty to hit the poor.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:45PM

You made the statement,you should be able to back it up with some facts.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:28PM

MMS is on it's way, Money for jam!

Commenter

Mike

Location

Melb

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:09PM

Watch out when Joe Hocky decided to throw out tiny sweets to act as change of heart - to disguise that LNP now HEARD and act to make budget measures fairer - Car LLease is one small item that could be given away to serve the purpose. IMHO. buy MMS is quite a risk that could be avoided.

Commenter

Up and Down is Norm

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:41PM

this is the most rubbish price action i've ever seen. certainly not bullish. u would think that with the force of the push above the 5500 lvl that it would just have a nice run up.not really any takers, just bleeding up.i think it wants to move down again, just waiting for a catalyst.

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:01PM

Interesting! I would say it's the opposite.

The market dropped 200 points in 6 days but has already recovered about 110, with no real change in the geopolitical environment.

I would say that's shows a fair bit of support.

Commenter

Life Is Good

Location

The Real World

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:35PM

Mean while, everyone is bleeding lots of green?

Commenter

just

Location

sayin'

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:48PM

Franking Credits used to be tax offsets (could only reduce tax to zero, not get cash back) but nowadays they are effectively treated as income (you get a tax refund if franking >tax bill).

Interest on loans is essentially negative income and can be offset against ANY income. If I earn $50k and pay $20k interest then my taxable income is $30k.

As to strategy, high income earners want to defer investment tax (on income or CG) until later (eg retirement when have little taxable income) so generally would favour negative gearing of low income paying assets.

People on lower incomes would favour positive gearing (as more cash after costs) on higher income paying assets.

For us, the former are in my name and the latter are in my (part time working) wife's name.

Commenter

Life Is Good

Location

The Real World

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:57AM

Interest charged on the loan is deductible from your yearly income from all sources.Dividends and franking credits count towards your income.Capital gains only count when they are realised.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:52AM

@Peter the interest cost is deductible against all of your income. That's the beauty of negative gearing. But don't let that deductibility lure you into borrowing more than you can repay.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:50AM

Someone's anticipating or already knows about a good result from MMS when it reports on 26/8. The share price has been well bid-up in recent days.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:47AM

speculators?

Commenter

;)

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:02PM

No, its just good value after Rudd almost wrecked them last year!

Commenter

Allan Mitchell

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:04PM

Buy the rumour. Sell the fact.

Commenter

TP

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:15PM

MMS was a bargain. Still is.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:18PM

The franking credits are not tax-free. You pay tax on the cash received plus the franking credit, at your maximum marginal rate. You then get a tax offset for the amount of the franking credits.If your interest expense is higher than the sum of your dividends and the franking credits, you can offset the loss against your other income.Get professional advice because your personal circumstances may be more complex.

Commenter

doglover

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:45AM

11:36am: Wages rises

This is the best macro economic news we've had for ages. With wage inflation finally coming under control, we can start to rid ourselves of our Dutch Disease. We can finally move towards competitive non-mining sectors again. We're slowly but surely working our way back towards a more balanced and health economy, not short-term over-heating.

Commenter

Dr No

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:42AM

What will that look like Dr No?

What industries? Wages to rise with inflation or to fall? Personal debt to increase? Government revenue from where?....I can't see anything prosperous at all. We've sold anything worth selling, our wages are ridiculously too high to compete in anything.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:03PM

With wages rising at a slower rate than inflation consumers will have less to spend on goods and services. Fat lot of good that will do the economy. In my experience the cost of gov't services seems to be the main factor in the increase in the cost of living. Taxation by stealth.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:05PM

Wage inflation is the biggest contributor to price inflation. With taming the former we can start to deal with the latter.

Don't be so negative John, we're still a first class producer of banking, mining technology and services, construction (globally), etc. We've just got to get back on the right track.

Commenter

Dr No

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:18PM

A healthy economy requires a well-paid, confident workforce prepared to spend. Consumer confidence is declining due to real, promised and imagined Budget cuts and disposable incomes are taking a cut as a consequence. Any gains to business due to lower wages will be more than offset by a decline in economic activity from consumers.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:34PM

@mitch - it's the biggest folly to think that consumption should drive production. It is the other way around, consumption is the spoils of hard work, it should thus be production that drives consumption.

Your way of thinking is the very reason that so many Western countries are in deep trouble now. We've pushed consumption at the expense of a production industry.

Commenter

Dr No

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:16PM

@Dr No If consumers didn't demand producers wouldn't produce. Imagine building a whole range of widgets that no-one wanted. You'd go broke in no time. If people wanted them you could sell them at any price.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:29PM

whoa! draining? All I see is little green rockets ;)

Commenter

;)

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:41AM

@Peter. You probably misunderstood. The franking credits are not tax-free. They are added to your taxable income and taxed at your marginal tax rate + levies. The amount of the franking credit is then deducted from your tax payable.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:40AM

Rang the Tax office. Person I got was a little vague. The franking credits are (tax free?) income in effect reflecting the tax the company has paid on the shares. You can still deduct the interest against the dividend I believe.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:37AM

AHZ small milestone achieved by first shipment from facility...but no quantities? ok guys how many 1,2 or 3.all good and time for some appreciation long term holders.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:34AM

TLS

Sold

Very good result considering its market dominance now brokers will start talking down stock. So will come back in when they infer where they will invest overseas.

SUN

Surprise UBS (making pennies in their shorts) talking down stock. They have more money than I so sold and will assess later.

BDR

Lots happening in the world massive sales over past weeks happy to hold. Expect shareholder notices soon. Next 5 months dry season but who knows .

CCL

Holding

VEI

Expect Primary (creeping shareholder) to move medium term.

ANZ

Bought

All my opinion

Commenter

Harry Rogers

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:00PM

nice going @harry always good to take a profit, and TLS may pull back nicely ex divd so you can buy in again for another run up, see SUN as fully valued really,but didnt know their history to well,someone posted $20.00 at some stage in the past but hey what was is already and may be just that.Funny that it took a Snowball to make the SUN shine...couldnt resist that one.Goldies im still bullish,but in on TRY.DRM both sunk since i brought BDR cost me 46.5 so ahead and hoping Qtr results go up from here [2015 good yr coming] or they are just hoaxing us with assay results from fantasyland.CCL im shy,but you have more history with them,trading a cycle or long term holders have diff veiws...im sticking with my small caps and going ok as well.some profit on CAJ and looking to exit AHZ at 17c [cost 11.5c]

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:33PM

Sorry bought DRM ...hope I haven't jinxed you.

Also BHP ahead 19/08 release.

Good luck to both of us.

Commenter

Harry Rogers

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:04PM

on this real estate / affordability / locking younger generations out question, there is one way we can try to address it - grow the regions!all those regional towns like townsville, toowoomba, tamworth, mildura etc with so much potential.

Commenter

brian

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:28AM

the way to address it is to let the free market sort it out. period.enough of this capitalism lite.pick a side.

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:45AM

just change your screen name, it's less confusing for everyone. Especially if the name thief is posting garbage

Commenter

doglover

Location

used to be confused

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:23AM

just change your screen name, it's less confusing for everyone. Especially if the name thief is posting garbage

Commenter

doglover

Location

used to be confused

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:23AM

dam u market, move. this sloshing around is draining my acc.

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:14AM

whoa! draining? All I see is little green rockets ;)

Commenter

;)

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:41AM

My green rockets are still hurting from last week

Commenter

Mike

Location

Melb

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:16PM

I haven't posted anything for the last couple of weeks lol

Commenter

Hugo

Location

Real one who posted housing bubble popped every day

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:06AM

I haven't posted anything for the last couple of weeks lol

Commenter

Hugo

Location

Real one who posted housing bubble popped every day

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:06AM

Me :)

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:51AM

Investment Question: Lots of people borrow money to buy shares that then produce dividends. The interests paid on the loan is tax deductible against the profit. Is there any point in doing this strategy if all your shares are fully franked (eg Telstra?). Be interested to know.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:47AM

If the after-tax yield (dividends + franking credits) on your shares is greater than the after-tax cost of the interest on the loan to buy the shares, then you should be ahead. But then of course there's always the risk that the share price could fall and reduce your gains or increase the gains if the share price rises.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:04AM

The Stratagem works better if the shares are fully franked. You can deduct the interest payments from accessible income and the Franking Credits are a direct offset (It is Company Tax Already Paid @ 30% on your dividend). Or so I believe.

Commenter

STYX

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:07AM

Tx STYX. The issue I'm thinking is that you can only put the interest deduction against share profits (i.e. not your salary). If this is the case then it appears borrowing to buy fully franked shares is a silly strategy.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:14AM

To sell or not to sell? The TLS buyback should give the TLS shareprice a boost. Does anyone have a method of working out what this boost should be?

Commenter

Wally

Location

Flynn

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:45AM

Well TLS market capitalisation is about $70 billion. So buying back 1 billion dollars worth of shares could (mathematically) add about 5c to the share price. Before yesterday the pundits were saying a buy back would be a low chance as it would need to be about 3 billion to make much difference in the share price.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:01AM

Based on their market cap, a $1bn share buyback should lift the price by 8 cents.

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:02AM

Something along the lines of:No of shares bought back then cancelled reduces the shares on offer by that amount which then takes the NTAB per share cancelled and puts the value back in to the shares left on market...increasing the EPS and possibly the DPS but hopefully the all important SP...how i read it,soughta kinda.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:09AM

The maths are fine for a share-price boost to TLS as a consequence of the buy-back. But then there's prevailing market conditions and reality. With flat earnings into the forseeable future and the NBN deal with the gov't as far off as ever, I'm anticipating a small fall in the price.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:31AM

The buy back will boost the share price but the share price is only where it is in the last month or so because of the dividend coming up. I believe $5.10 to 5.20 is reasonable (not factoring in buy-back)

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:58AM

Buyback will increase price by about 6c, depending on the market price at the time of the buyback.

It's a small change - better to look at their growth prospects.

Commenter

Sceptical Prophet

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:48PM

Hugo you're not the only one, someone keeps using my name as well!

Bugger off other Fred!

Commenter

Fred

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:43AM

Who's ready for the August drop?!

Commenter

Daxman

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:43AM

Me :)

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:51AM

ED, I have a query you may be able to look into. VRL achieved an incredible run in its share price from approx $2.00 to the now approx $7.50. Since reaching above this level, there have been wild daily swings of up to 40c occurring several days each week. I do not see any reason for this ?Has VRL become a 'darling' for Day Traders, or is there something else I'm missing. I am only ever a long term purchaser, and have held VRL since purchasing at $1.40 a few years back. Any light you can shed on these daily swings would be appreciated. Cheers.

EDs: No idea, I'm afraid Pistol Pete. They are 41% owned by a corporate parent, not sure if that would make a difference. Maybe a savvy reader would know. Chrs

Commenter

Pistol Pete

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:37AM

i strongly considered Dominoes shares about a year ago. but i thought, no, just like coffee over the last 5-10yrs, even the bogan masses will come around and mass-produced pizza, which tastes little better than the cardboard box it is within, will become as unwanted as a tin of international roast. how wrong i was.

Commenter

brian

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:36AM

You can't go wrong with $5 pizzas!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:53AM

Someone may have already pointed out that Dominos the company actually have a core business of selling frachises not the dogfood topped cardboard...thats left to the battlers sweating it out for low bucks in boganised suburbs Oz wide.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:03AM

@brian, wrong indeed. Dominos sells pizza for $5, I'm make dinner every night, i think my soup night comes in at $5 and thats cheap! They are a cheap alternative, to the mundane everyday grind of cooking and cleaning, I myself won't eat it unless I'm really desperate for both time and money, fortunately those days are gone but I can definately see them sticking around as long as McDonalds have. Uni students, welfare recipients, weekend party bogans, shared housing arrangments with low income, the list is endless.

Commenter

When the business model works

Location

it works!

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:17AM

Yes, It's right. Dominoes core business is selling its franchises. McDonald s core business is property investment. They are similar business model.

Commenter

ps

Location

syd

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:56AM

No your spot on. I ordered a pizza from there and ended up eating the box instead.

Commenter

Hungry Hungry Hippo

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 1:17PM

CZZ seems everything Kerry touches turns to gold...or milk and honey...but the volume just aint there,very tight hold. In a year when production and base supply is affected by drought etc.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:30AM

Why didn't those who incorporated CZZ select BZZ as their ASX code. Would have been very appropriate.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:46AM

I was looking at that stock not so long ago when $5 something. Unfortunately my gaze lingered too long and the bee has left the garden.The PE looks too high now.

You are right about Stokes and his Midas touch. IOH is also getting the golden kiss from BCI.

Commenter

Learner

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:34AM

Please CAJ stop it! Now your just showing off.

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:29AM

no one :) I can not believe no one else is on these blokes...... sorry besides BSB. Are you out yet?

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:07AM

sold down 1/2 10000 @ 64.5c couldnt resist any more.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:10AM

well done BSB! I think you picked the top for today.

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:05PM

Im out! Bound to pull back, priced around 55c im my opinion, should come back eventually. If not ARRRGGGG!!!!

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:39PM

always good to have a target prices [harder to stick to it] but always better for the stock to reach your target..not always the case.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:44PM

Savage fall (10%) in SGN. Glad I sold out a while ago on the basis that this is their lower dividend payment (3.3c) and below my desired yield and I didn't expect a good result in a deflated consumer-oriented market. Thanks Hockey. Result wasn't too bad tho and the drop looks overdone.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:26AM

ROFLMAO at the doomsayers on TELSTRA yesterday!!!!!!

I'll keep my TLS holding long term thank you very much!

Commenter

Herman

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:24AM

Nice work Herman ;) did you say you were also on CBA?

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:20AM

Fact: Globalisation means the world is now a 'global village', in terms of finance, national borders now mean nothing.

Fact: Politicians are amongst this country's most enthusiastic RE investors.

Fact: Australia's population is 23 Million

Fact: There are over 50 Million Chinese worth over $1 Million USD. All of them want a piece of this country.

Draw your own conclusions. Despite all the petty little numbers being thrown around here, at the end of 25 years (leaving aside the fact most people pay their mortgage off in 15 years) an owner is left with a roof over your head, never having to pay rent again, while a renter needs to worry about how he/she will pay rent in retirement. Don't be one of them. It is disingenuous to portray the renter as better off.

For your own sake buy what you can afford when you can afford it. You'll be thankful you did in the long term

Commenter

Herman

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:19AM

Well I'll grant you Australia's population is 23m but all of your other 'facts' are a pretty shaky. There's also a lot of other facts in the world that might have some bearing.FWIW In the longer term it seems likely that buying and selling a house will become the privilege of those that already own one. For the rest, average salaries will dictate rental prices which will over a lifetime cost much less than trying to buy your own house outright. But that's in the future.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:09AM

Pretty soon, the Chinese are going to wake up to the fact that yields in Australia on property are pathetic. If capital growth slows, there will no longer be a reason to invest here. Their gaze will turn to the UK or US property markets.

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:14AM

Irish Phil:

I agree with your comment. But maybe there are Chinese buyers who were after not only for the yield but also for the political stability here in Australia.

I also wonder if it is easier for them (especially non-residents) to buy property here than in U.S. ?

Commenter

CafeAmericano

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:56AM

@ Cafe: there could indeed be other reasons, such as they want their child to go to uni here, so they buy a place for the kid to live in while here.The European property markets have much more attractive yields though, and mostly stable politic environments.

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:12PM

Herman is correct. You're a little bit kind on the numbers though- there would be more rich Chinese than only 50 million. 1% of China is extremely wealthy- 1% of 1.26 billion is 126 mil. That's the extremely rich which can afford the expensive properties. When you add up the "normal" rich the number is even greater- these are the ones buying in areas that are not Vaucluse and pushing up the price of average suburbs (if you consider Marsfield 'average' now-which it's not).

Commenter

Asianangel

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:34PM

@Asianangel"1% of China is extremely wealthy- 1% of 1.26 billion is 126 mil." Huh? Time to tune the abacus, Asianangel.

I would argue that 1% of 1.26 biilion is 12.60 million. (Twelve point six million)

R.

Commenter

Roadsta

Location

Brisvegas

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 2:00PM

Oops added an extra 0. Thanks Roadsta. Still nothing short of a Tsunami for FHBs trying to crack into the market.

Commenter

Asianangel

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 3:08PM

Money that belongs to the 500M rural poor. They want it back.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 4:31PM

Pleased about the TLS off-market buy-back with a good % of the price being a f/f dividend. Good for SMSFs in pension mode but pity about the very long wait before those franking credits will be refunded by the ATO. I expect the scale-back to be savage, except for small holdings, so won't be rushing in to buy more and looks like the market has already had second thoughts about that as the share price is dropping from the early buying surge.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:18AM

Meanwhile back to the markets...TLS bang 10c just straight out.wishing i was rich enough to have got a slice of CSL around the $65 but only 150shares wouldn't have made real coin.....stick with the small caps till one day.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:14AM

I agree with you. Only bought 155 shares recently @ 64.25

Commenter

CafeAmericano

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:13AM

STW (SGN) at the 10% discount! This morning is turning out great! :)

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:14AM

Can't complain with that Telstra price, sold out too! Who knows if the market will push it higher, but happy with $5.55 for now :)

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:11AM

I'd have to agree with one commentator who suspects that this might be as good as it gets for Telstra. Competition has been weak, and they have done a good job cutting costs.Now the Aussie market is saturated they are talking about more overseas acquisitions, which has lost them money in the past.

Commenter

MTD

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:37AM

'Good as it gets' you have to admit, pretty good if your holding TLS. Happy Trading

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:23AM

Dear eds,

I promise I will not make any further comments on the Middle East or Russia for you to reject, I will stick strictly to the markets.

Yours faithfully,

Fred.

Commenter

Fred

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:09AM

Thanks to Crown I've now recovered all last week's losses and then some! Plus I sold on open :)

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:04AM

Nice work, been on the watch list for ages, spewing I let the chance slip by. Let the herd bewilder me.

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:24AM

Yep I was mildly cursing myself for committing too much last week instead of slowly buying in, but paid off today!

I know that feeling you mention. That's me with Carsales today... could have gotten cheap yesterday!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:06PM

@GS i bought in, up $5 ;) I think they will run up from here, negative sentiment goes out the window after that announcement. Besides try find all the negative stories a week from now, huh? where did they all go?

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 12:21PM

I don't mean to offend anyone but I really do believe that anyone that has a mortgage on their house, the roof over their heads is rather on the simple, if not worse side. Banks are fine to finance one's business's needs, investments of all kind but never borrow to purchase your house. Save save and save and always buy within your means, never get the banks involved. Do whatever it takes, stay with your folks a bit longer, rent for a while, whatever but always buy outright what you can afford. F... the banks.

Commenter

Non Mortagee

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 9:58AM

I assume you're joking. You couldn't honestly expect the average Sydneysider to live with Mum until they save $800,000, could you?

On Joe Hockey's wage (with tax payer funded petrol, among other things) it wouldn't take long, but for someone on an average income your suggestion is ludicrous.

Commenter

Fred

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:04AM

Why not borrow to finance a house purchase. You are acquiring a durable asset that in the fullness of time will grow in value as well as sheltering you from the vagaries and growing rents of the rental market. One day that property will be yours. Don't be afraid of debt. Use it constructively. Hockey has everyone running scared at the mere mention of the word. Don't be one of the sheep.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:12AM

I tend to agree that mortgages are a rort but trying to contribute as much as you can towards a purchase makes sense. With the current low interest rates you are still gunna end up paying back 1.57 for every buck ya borrow. So its a long road to get some capital appreciation if ya give the bank a 90% stack in the joint ya buy.All those syin theres monay to be made on purchases have to look at total costs...which incl stamp duties,sellers fees and all the other tack ons along with the huge amount of interest paid back in the long term...seems rather bais to not include these figures in all the calcs....

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:24AM

Ludicrous or not, it is the over use of debt that have pushed real estate prices to these levels. If most people would think as wisely as I do, prices would be far far lower, everyone would be able to save enough for a roof over their heads. They wouldn't have a mortgage but be able to save much more, start their own business or fund other productive investments ( I mean productive not speculative, one brings growth the other cancerous). It's not purchasing the Titanic, nor the Burj Khalifa, it's a simple roof and pile of bricks, we can't even do that these days. We are the creators of a giant monster, expensive monster. How sorry I feel, how sad for the new young generation, they have no chance to a decent life, a family & children, no hope.

Commenter

Non Mortgagee

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:29AM

You are actually partially right. Interest on home loans is not of course not tax deductible. However as others have pointed out, how does one afford ridiculous home prices without borrowing ?

The best way may be to borrow, pay down non-deductible mortgage debt asap (and yes, if possible in sensible way, negatively gear into other investments where the debt IS deductible.

Commenter

Aussie Expat

Location

Hong Kong

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:33AM

@Aussie Expat: The suburb I want to live in is outside my price appetite. My strategy has been to buy a place elsewhere, but rent it out. I then rent in the suburb I wish to live in.Now my interest payments ARE tax deductible. Financially I see no reason to live there at the moment.

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:49AM

If wishes were horses NM. This is frankly silly advice. The general population has never been able to just buy a house outright and it was a bona fida financial and social revolution when poor people could borrow long term to be able to acquire assets over their lifetime.

Houses will only ever be as expensive as people are able to pay (whether renting or buying or building) and that is driven by wages.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:56AM

@Peter...like every advice one either takes note or ignores it, either way it's fine. I've said many times smoking is not good for ones health, over drinking is not good, taking debt is not good...one either listens or suffers. Be wise.

Commenter

Non Mortagee

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:15AM

Taking the median house price in Sydney (821.5k) and the 10 year growth rate of (3.77%) you need to save about 31k in CASH to break even with house price growth. If you want to buy outright you'd need an after tax income of 100k (about 145k p.a. base) to be able to purchase the place outright after saving 12 years without spending ANYTHING. Factor out your living expenses ... good luck ever buying anything outright.

Non Mortgagee owns property outright without ever the need of baaaa baaaa banks, Save and save. I've never rented but if ever I had to, I would curse the money I give to the landlords. (may this money bring you only bad luck in your house 444). Now, I'm 888

What I'm looking at is this: If one buys a property at $600k, the choice is between an apartment in Melbourne CBD or a 3 bdr house in the suburb of Abbotsford on torrens title. In one situation and discounting rates, there are strata fees of anything upwards of hundreds of dollars a week on the strata, while the other at Abbotsford...there are none.

So, I want to know why people are paying such huge fees to live in a shoebox? To pay for vacuuming six metres of shared hallway; for a pool or gym you don't use; for painting that's done once or twice a decade; to rake leaves from one tree; to mow 36sqm of lawn with scissors? Huh? GG.

Commenter

Gordon Gekko

Location

Greg Coffey World

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 9:37AM

Apartments are generally in more densely populated areas that are in convenient locations. I walk 20 minutes to work and save $30/week on transport. When I have big nights on weekends, I'm home while people are still waiting for night riders or the first train.

Plus an apartment just the right size for me is easier to clean. It's all a convenience thing.

However, I do agree, strata is ridiculously high. I would add though, areas with apartments tend to be moer densely populated and in higher demand so the price tends appreciates better than a house in a random suburb.

Commenter

Sceptical Prophet

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:27AM

GG, the points you make are all valid, however Strata costs can be either a far cheaper option than maintaining ones own Torrens Title home, OR far far more expensive. Having purchased and accumulated a good number of properties over 30 years, I have some fairly basic rules, which seem to have reaped me handsome rewards.I avoid purchasing in any building which has any of the following:*short term rentals.*elevators, pool, gym.*no public transport immediately available.*less than 6 units or more than approx 25.*not built by a builder of long standing reputation.*Inability for me to 'drive past & inspect'.Of course, I have gained this through experience, and time spent being involved.

Commenter

Pistol Pete

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:30AM

Lifestyle.

Commenter

Fred

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:32AM

If you buy a house you need to pay land tax, something to keep in mind.

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:41AM

SItrata fees of hundreds of dollars a week on a 600K apartment is an absurb statement but don't let facts get in the way of a good story

I've owned a nice house for many years and you are correct, there are no strata fees to pay. There are however ongoing maintenance costs that dwarf any strata fees I would have paid over that time

Strata fees aren't a tax. It is still your money being used to maintain your asset. It is just done collectively (which should be more efficient) rather than as you the individual

Commenter

Nick from Sydney

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 10:51AM

Correct Nick. Ask any houseowner who has had to replace a roof............

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:07AM

Irish Phil: Land Tax is payable on the land value, regardless of whether the investment dwelling is a house or block of units eg. for a Strata block of 20 units with land value of $6,000,000, each owner (unless principle residence) would pay land tax on $300,000. This is assuming the threshold has been reached.

Commenter

Pistol Pete

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:29AM

Thanks Pistol Pete, you are indeed correct. I realised my error as I was pushing the 'Post comment' button :(

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:59AM

Spot on Irish Phil, 28K for me last time

Commenter

Nick from Sydney

Location

Date and time

August 14, 2014, 11:59AM

Is housing maintenance really worse than strata? I know that strata is basically set up to be dodgy from the onset. Meetings during work hours and handing off absurb contracts. There was a meeting my mother went to where they tried to give the maintenance manager a 10 year contract for $300k per year - he doesn't even do any work, he just delegates tasks to others.

And considering how often the lifts break down ... I love my apartment but I would never call strata cheap (although hundreds a week is something I've never heard of). Paying $1400 per quarter in the middle of the CBD for a $580K apartment (now worth about $650k).